


A Hawke Family Lesson Learned

by kayurafii



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Fluff, Groping, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Sappy, and is afraid of needing others too much, even though she holds onto them so tightly, just kissing, little longer than a, maybe a little, ok, poor baby who looses everyone, smooches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 18:46:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4148817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayurafii/pseuds/kayurafii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawke doesn't smile anymore.  Okay, slight exaggeration, but she doesn't just smile to smile anymore.</p><p>After saving Carver from Grace and her blood mages, Hawke has even less reason to smile.  Everyone leaves her, and it's just a matter of time before all of her companions are off.  They won't need her forever.</p><p>Merrill likes to try to fix things, and she really wants to fix Hawke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hawke Family Lesson Learned

“You don’t smile anymore, Hawke.” Merrill chirps from my bedroom door.  I gesture for her to come inside, and she closes the door behind her.  “Bohdan says he and Sandal are going to the market before it closes.”

She sits on the edge of my bed, angled towards me.

“What’s on your mind, kitten?”  I'd adopted Isabella’s nickname for my sweet elf long ago.  It’s so perfect.  I shift closer to her, my house dress dragging the bed clothes with me.

“You don’t smile anymore, Hawke.”  She chirps my name again, and I can’t keep my mouth from twitching upwards at the corners.

“Don’t be silly, love, what about last night at the Hanged Man?  I seem to remember laughing rather loudly at Anders losing his shirt.”  I put my arms around her and pull her close.  Sometimes I forget how small she is, but I always know she’ll come closer to me easily enough.  “And besides, keep saying my name like that, you know I’ll always smile for you.”

“Oh, Hawke.”  She says my name longer this time, sadder.  No, not sad, consoling.

“Bella and I were talking, and, well,” she pauses to frame my face with her hands, “we’ve all lost.  My clan, her ship, Varric’s brother.”

I lean back, pulling away from her hands and breaking eye contact.  “I don’t want to talk about this, Merrill.”  My hands follow, dropping to my sides, all the colder without her.

“I know, Ma vhenan, but I miss your smile.”  She leans into me without caging me in, a talent only she has.  “I miss you.”

I kiss the top of her head and sigh.  She smells like the outdoors without any of the stink of Lowtown.  Like trees and grass and the wind.  I give in again and wrap my arms tightly around her.  She doesn’t give any complaint about my grip, only snuggles closer.

“It’s been a long six years.”  She tilts her head up to me.  “And Carver’s alright, and I think he’s even warming up to you.”

“Carver’s an unforgiving prat.  He hates me and I have to make peace with that.”  My face turns sour as I remember his poor attitude about everything that’s me.

“See, you almost sounded like you there.  Until the end.”  She twists in my grasp like a cat until we’re pressed front to front, “You never give up.  Don’t give up now.  He’ll come around eventually.”

“Merrill, he’s had,” I stop to think, having lost track of our years, “twenty-four years to come to terms with our relationship.  He refuses to see that I’m just better than him.”  There, that sounds like the old me.  A little angrier, more bitter, but sarcastic and irreverent.

“Oh, love.”  She sighs, and I know I’m not fooling her any better than I can fool myself.

“I’m sorry,” I say into her hair, resigned, and then whisper low enough that she hopefully doesn’t hear me, “please don’t leave me too.”

Her breath hitches, and I know I failed again, though maybe on purpose this time.  My collar sticks to my skin, slowly, with her tears.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper again, kissing her forehead then her nose.  Then I chase her tears with kisses down her cheeks.

“Hawke,” she chirps, the way I love, though a little rough around the edges, “Ma vehenan, I won’t.  Please know I won’t.”

I smile, my eyes squinting with the force of it.  “I know, kitten.  Forgive me for being weak?”

She kisses me, soft and sweet, before she brushes her nose to mine, “There’s nothing to forgive.  No one can be stone forever.”

“Is that one of your Keeper phrases of wisdom?” I ask around kisses.

“No, silly, that’s a tried and true Hawke family lesson.”  She kisses me again, harder, pushing my head into the pillows under us.  I open my lips for her and feel her tongue brush my teeth before I meet her halfway.

Long moments pass with her hands in my hair, my hands rolling over her hips, and our kisses filling the room.  Slow kisses, not like our usual romps.  Our breath, while not calm, is not heaving in our chests, but mingles warmly between us when we break apart.  She nuzzles against my neck, my ear, and I breathe her in.

“Thank you, Merrill.” I breathe into her mouth as she opens her lips for me.  And I kiss her again, with a smile on my lips between us.


End file.
